In Westminster, the talk may all be about David Miliband jetting off to New York because he hated being in his brother's shadow. But that's not how many people see it in South Shields, the north-east England coastal constituency the elder Miliband has represented since 2001.

"He's been offered more money, hasn't he?" said David Oley, selling copies of the Shields Gazette on Ocean Road in the town centre. "You don't leave a good job for another unless you're getting paid more, do you?" Quite right, said a customer, Gordon Haslop. "It's obvious he is going to be handsomely paid in New York – and you already get a lot as an MP."

The South Shields Gazette splashed on the departure of its local MP to head International Rescue in the US, revealing that the constituency Labour party would prefer him to be replaced by "a local candidate, rather than a prospective MP 'parachuted' in by head office."

John Anglin, the constituency party secretary, agreed. At lunchtime on Wednesday, he said he had received "20 or 30" phone calls from members since the news broke on Tuesday night, all saying the same thing: "This time, whoever is chosen should be somebody from the local community. That hasn't been the case in living memory."

John Anglin, the South Shields constituency Labour party secretary. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

One name mooted as a possible runner was Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the Daily Mirror. As a South Shields lad, he fits Anglin's criteria – and what's more, he was in the constituency raising money for the Labour party just last month.

Alas, the rumours proved to be just that. "I love the town and will be back next week to see my family," said Maguire in an email, "but I'm an ill-disciplined hack addicted to mischief, so I'm sticking with journalism instead of venturing into politics."

A more likely candidate is Iain Malcolm, leader of South Tyneside council. He said Miliband gave him a "courtesy call" on Tuesday night to explain his decision – "it was a personal one, based on what was best for his family".

Malcolm said he was giving "serious consideration" to announcing his candidacy. South Shields born and bred, the 45-year-old has been a party member since 1982 and claims to "love this town to bits".

There was much unhappiness among the local party faithful when Miliband, then head of Tony Blair's policy unit, was chosen in 2001 to succeed the former cabinet minister David Clark – another non-local, who was retiring to the Lords after 22 years. Anglin admits a few noses were out of joint, but Miliband won most people round over time.

"He wasn't very good at talking to ordinary people at first," said Anglin, "but he became much more comfortable. My abiding memory of him will be him being taken to task by two irate locals about the state of the town centre, and David winning them over."

Anglin insisted Miliband could be proud of the legacy he will leave in South Tyneside. "Almost all of our schools are brand new, and that's a result of the Building Schools for the Future programme, which he worked on when he was a junior education minister," said the party secretary. Miliband also worked hard to secure £100m of funding to regenerate South Shields in the next five to 10 years, he added.

But some locals said Miliband, who held ministerial roles for most of his 12-and-a-half-year tenure, had more time for Westminster than South Shields.

Brian Saxon, 38, claimed he had tried in vain to get an appointment with his MP when he was made redundant and was struggling to secure a payout from his firm. "Itried to get in to see him, but I was told his diary was booked and that he was in London on business." As for Miliband leaving for New York, Saxon said he didn't care: "He can please himself. He's done nowt for me."

Despite his disaffection, Saxon said he would still vote Labour in the byelection. "It's just how I've been brought up," he said with a shrug. "We can't let the Conservatives in, can we?"

Haslop, a retired welder who works part-time in the local hospital as a porter, said the next MP would certainly be Labour. "People have got very short memories around here," he said, complaining that while Miliband "hadn't done much for us", his successor would be unlikely to lose the 11,109 majority he won in 2010. "Better the devil you know."

Haslop, too, said he could never vote for the Tories. "Look around you," he said. "They killed this place, Margaret Thatcher and co. Just look at the river, there's nothing there any more."

Alan Prown, drinking in the Kirkpatrick pub, complained: "There's nae ship building, nae industry. They don't care about us down in Westminster. They rob the poor to line their own pockets. Vagabonds, the lot of them."

South Shields is the only constituency in existence since the Great Reform Act of 1832 to have never elected a Conservative MP. But could Ukip make inroads? The anti-EU party didn't even bother fielding a candidate in 2010 but a spokesman said on Wednesday morning that they were "very likely" to this time. "People have already been applying to stand," he said.

Nigel Farage already has one vote in the can: postwoman Tracy Johnson, a lifelong Labour voter who felt the party had lost its way. "I don't think Labour is Labour any more," she said, delivering letters in the town centre. "I don't think they represent ordinary working people any more. Think of how many millionaires were made when they were in government."